To dog lovers

January 10, 2003

Are there any dog rescue people on this list? Or perhaps you are very

experienced with problem dog behavior? I could use your advice!

I'm inheriting a very lovable American Eskimo dog from a relative. He's not

very big (may 15 " high), very beautiful and affectionate, but also very

JUMPY and SUSPICIOUS OF STRANGERS! The behavior comes from the fact that

for the first year of his life he was locked in a garage and given no

attention or affection. They would just open the door and throw some food

in at him then close the door again. My relative rescued him. They potty

trained him and give him TONS of love and affection, but that's IT. They

are not the best dog owners when it comes to training.

I think I can deal with the jumping thing, but he's so suspicious of

strangers coming into the house it is a problem. Out on the street or at

dog parks he loves people and there has never been a negative incident. But

if someone new comes into the house he totally freaks out. He has bitten a

couple of people and I can't have that when he's mine. I have heard this

breed sometimes needs a moment or two to size a person up when they enter

their territory--approach them too soon and they feel threatened. So maybe

I can instruct people to not approach him at all for the first 5 minutes

they are over. I've also heard you should have a day where you have people

drop by frequently all day so you can train them how to behave--but this is

not practical for us. We just don't know that many people.

Also, he's going to have major separation anxiety because you wouldn't

believe how attached this dog is to my relative. He just follows her around

all day. She does not work so he's been receiving 24 hour attention and,

well, I have a job so that's going to stop. Other than the jumpy and

suspicious of strangers thing, this is the sweetest dog and I want to do all

I can to keep him. I know all this negative behavior is mostly due to the

horrible neglect he suffered the first year of his life. He really loves us

and gets along great with my other dog (an 8-month old female lab that needs

a play-partner). He is three--so he's not that old for this breed which can

live for up to 18 years. So he's still trainable I hope. Any opinions?

Suggestions? Experiences?

January 10, 2003

I've had a few years of experience but sad to say not with this breed. I have

known one and it was a hard dog to get along with. First, the dog is going to

be very insecure. Once the dog gets use to his new surroundings and routine

he is going to want to protect it for himself and for you. I would say to

keep his contact limited with strangers in the house. He needs to be

socialized slowly and at his own pace. Put up a gate to separate him from the

room where the guests are but not so that he is locked out. Don't force

people on him and use slow contact and no direct eye contact. I have always

heard not to smile at dogs that had issues because they may consider you

baring your teeth at them. Don't know if this is true but I don't smile at

dogs who seem nervous. I'm not a dog trainer but a common sense approach with

the attitude of slowly socializing him seems reasonable.

Some dogs just do better out of social situations. They are one person or one

family dogs.

January 10, 2003

My suggestion to you is to join an American Eskimo immediately and

forward your email to them for some advice. There is one on

called AmericanEskimoRescue that might be able to give you some insight into

this particular breeds behavior.

From your email, it sounds as though Eskies may bond to one person very

strongly, or it may be just this one as he was not socialized at all in his

developing years. He has not learned any " dog language " , much less human

languange and his social skills are minimal. Dogs are pack animals and learn

from not only being in the pack but from other members of the pack. What he

has learned so far in this life is that he cannot depend on anyone but

himself; that humans leave. That is a terrible thing for a dog to endure,

especially when their instincts tell them that they should look to an Alpha

for guidance.

Whoever he has bonded to now, he had bonded to extraordinarily strongly

because a) that person is seen by him as an Alpha; someone he can look to for

guidance and b) that person has been dependable and not left him. This is

precisely why you are seeing the separation anxiety from him. He is not

secure that he will not be left again.

In dealing with a dog that is aggressive of his turf, you must consider where

that comes from. Dogs left to fend for themselves often develop " far more

aggression than protectivity because everyone who passes by or enters has

....violated the territory that dog has marked dozens of times a day for

year. " This quote was said of an outside, chained dog, but would have some

relavance here. The only thing he's been able to call his own is his

territory. He is protecting it in his eyes hence, the aggression you are

seeing. I've seen many dogs with that are " crate protective " or " car

protective " who will ONLY exhibit aggressive behavior when they are in a

crate or in a car.

How do you curtial this?

First, you must make absolutely certain that you are not telling the dog,

either verbally or non-verbally that you approve of the behavior. For

instance, when he becomes aggressive by snarling or growling or barking at a

visitor, does anyone walk over to the dog and pet him and say, " It's ok, It's

ok, so-and-so is not going to hurt you, " in an effort to calm him? From the

dogs point of view, because he cannot understand our human language, if this

is done, you have just REWARDED the dog for the behavior. He has received a

pet, some attention and some kind, soothing words of which he has no clue of

their meaning. Yippee! The next person that comes through the door, I'm

going to REPEAT what I just did and maybe I'll get more attention, more pets,

more kind words...what I'm doing must be RIGHT!

Make sense?

One important thing to remember: Dogs will repeat a behavior up to TWENTY

times, if they have ever been rewarded for it just ONCE.

TWENTY. Trying to get the same reward. Consider that what you & the dog

might think are rewards could be two different things, however, it appears

that rewarding this particular dog could be very, very easy. In fact, due to

the lack of attention he has received earlier in his life, a little attention

is going to go a LOOONG way with him.

There are several ways in which you can " fix " this problem, because it is a

problem that could escalate into something unfortunate for him and for your

family. I've given you some insight into how the dog might be reading your

possible actions (you really didn't tell us what you were doing, just what

the dog was doing so I've guessed a little based on my experience with

owners). This dog needs some assurances. He also needs to be relieved of

the necessity for aggression. For instance, in the dog pack, the pack looks

to the Alpha to straighten out any problems, within and out of the pack. If

the Alpha is not perceived as " strong " enough to fulfill this need, there

will be one or more in the pack that will take care of it for him. If this

happens more than once, it is likely that they Alpha will be replaced by

someone who is strong enough. I'll give you an example: I have 3 MinPins,

the largest and oldest of which is an 8 lb. female and two 5 lb. males who

are younger. In my absence, she is the Alpha bitch. Sometimes, if the males

play loudly and roughly and she takes it into her head that she doesn't want

them to play anymore. No reason, but she will look to ME to break it up. I

have no intention of breaking it up, because it is ok with me that they play.

She feels as though something needs to be done though and she will jump,

growling and snarling, into the middle of them trying to stop them. She has,

in essence, taken matters into her own hands and done a " job " that she felt I

was supposed to do. What do I do to stop that? I need to remove from her

the feeling that she is responsible for that. It is NOT her job, it is mine.

She needs to be brought down a peg. Not much, just enough to let her know

that if I think something is ok, it is not up to her to 2nd guess me. There

are lots of ways in which this can be done.

Now, this email is entirely too long and I apologize for anyone whom I've

bored beyond tears. If the author of the original email thinks that this

touches on anything close to what she is experiencing, she can feel free to

write me personally and I'll try to help.

Storm Bryant

Regional Coordinator IMPS-GA/AL

<A HREF= " http://www.minpinrescue.org/ " >Internet Miniature Pinscher Service,

Inc. (IMPS)</A>

Instructor-Sirius Dog Agility Training Center

Proud Owner of Giselle-MXJ, AX

Maxi-Pup - NA (Jumper in Training)

& Boo (Watcher of all things Agility)

January 10, 2003

have you done a search on google for eskimo rescue? I've had experiences wiht

rescues but all with pekingese. I hd a puppymill girl that basiclaly all she

needed was love & patience to bring her around. but some things never leave

them; someone abused the hell out of my kaise & she's still wary of strangers

to this day.

megan

-

Maija.Ray

Friday, January 10, 2003 1:01 PM